jscherb
Expedition Leader
I don't know what the Grenadier designers were thinking when they created the storage compartment in front of the jack. It's hard to store anything in there because whatever is in there will be in the way when you need the jack, also things in there will rattle around because there's no provision for securing anything. And as another apparent design afterthought, they put the 120v receptacle for the inverter inside that compartment. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
There are a number of aftermarket bags for that space, some of which seem to just set in there and rely on the factory plastic cover to hold them in place, and some that are secured with self-stick Velcro. I suppose with the Velcro ones you wouldn't need to replace the factory plastic cover, although the end result doesn't look very good - all the various holes in the inner fender panel are visible. I've attached a photo of one such example I found on eBay - but if it's attached to the jack cover with Velcro, won't that make it difficult to remove the jack cover?
None of the ones on the market seem optimal to me so I designed something that I like better. It's a bag that clips in place using existing holes in the inner fender panel and removes in seconds, doesn't require Velcro or any additional hardware, replaces the factory plastic cover and hides all the unsightly clip holes in the inner fender panel. I sewed one the other day in tan and photos are attached, and I also did a photo-edit to show what one would look like in black. This prototype isn't perfect, I've got a few tweaks to make to the pattern for it to fit better, but it'll do for testing.
A typical example I found on eBay:
There are a number of aftermarket bags for that space, some of which seem to just set in there and rely on the factory plastic cover to hold them in place, and some that are secured with self-stick Velcro. I suppose with the Velcro ones you wouldn't need to replace the factory plastic cover, although the end result doesn't look very good - all the various holes in the inner fender panel are visible. I've attached a photo of one such example I found on eBay - but if it's attached to the jack cover with Velcro, won't that make it difficult to remove the jack cover?
None of the ones on the market seem optimal to me so I designed something that I like better. It's a bag that clips in place using existing holes in the inner fender panel and removes in seconds, doesn't require Velcro or any additional hardware, replaces the factory plastic cover and hides all the unsightly clip holes in the inner fender panel. I sewed one the other day in tan and photos are attached, and I also did a photo-edit to show what one would look like in black. This prototype isn't perfect, I've got a few tweaks to make to the pattern for it to fit better, but it'll do for testing.
A typical example I found on eBay: